Sprocket-cable elevator



2 Sheet-Sheet 1.

kN'o'Model.)

M JGARLAND, SPROGKET CABLE ELEVATOR.

No. 482,239. Patented Sept. 6, 1892.

Fig-.1.

INVENTUH: 'caz/l 5% fall? No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

M.GARLAN,D. SPROGKBT CABLE ELEVATOR.

No. 482,239. Patented Sept. 6, 1892.

UNITED STATES PATENT GFFIC-E.

MICHAEL GARLAND, OFBAY CITY, MICHIGAN.

SPROCKET-CABLE ELEVATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 482,239, dated September 6, 1892.

Application filed April 18, 1892. Serial No. 429,510. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Beit known that I, ll/IICHAEL GARLAND, of Bay City, in the county of Bay and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and use ful Improvements in Sprocket-Cable Elevators; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanyitng drawings, forming part of this specifica- My present invention relates more particularly to that species of elevators in which one or more endless cables provided with sprocket-like devices and carrying suitable receptacles is or are combined with wheels adapted to run in connection with such sprocketed cable or cables, although some of the features of my invention may be used in contrivances adapted merely to the purposes of power and motion transmitters. The particular features of improvement which I have invented will be found described hereinafter, and most particularly pointed out in the claims of this specification; and to enable those skilled in the art to understand and practice, either in part or in whole, the several features of my said invention I will now proceed to more fully explain the latter, referring by letters to the accompanying drawings, in which I have shown the several features of my improvement carried out in those forms in which I have so far actually practiced the same.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of an elevator designed and used for elevating ore, coal, &c., and embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a view of the elevator, looking in the direction indicated by the arrow at Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a detail view to be hereinafter referred to, and Fig. 4 is a perspective view of one of the sprocket-wheels detached.

In the several figures the same part will be found always designated by the same letter of reference.

A is a suitable main framework forthe support of the working parts of the machine.

B B are the upper and driving set of combined rope and-sprocket wheels, over the pcripheries of which pass two endless sprocketed cables C C. which also make half-turns beneath another pair of combined rope and sprocket wheels D D, which act merely as idlers to keep the endless cable in a properlydistended condition. The shaft 01 of thelower pair of wheels D D has its journal-boxes 0, arranged to slide vertically, as shown, (see Figs. 1. and 3,) so that by means of adjusting screw shafts or rods 1) the said boxes can be moved downward and held in such condition as to insure the requisite tautness of the endless cables, all in a manner familiar to the skilled mechanic. The shaft 6 of the upper set of wheels has its journal-boxes arranged permanently at the top of the main frame, as clearly shown, and on one projecting end of said shaft is keyed fast a spur-gearf, which engages with a pinion fast on the countershat't h, while fast on said counter shaft is a spur-gear E, which engages with the main driving-pinion F of the main drive or power shaft G, to which the requisite power and motion may be impartedby any suitable motor Q duplicates and the cables, with their attached devices, are alike, I will now particularly describe only that one of the (upper set of) wheels seen at the top of Fig. 1 and that one of the cables, and its stops, which runs over said wheel, which description will answer for all the wheels and the two cables which coact therewith. The said wheel is made without the usual circun1ferentially-arranged groove in its periphery, (that is adapted to receive and seat the cable very much after the fashion of an ordinary rope-wheel;) but. at either side of the usual locality of said groove the wheel is formed or provided with a series of equidistant teeth or sprockets t, which are arranged in pairs or opposite each other transversely of the wheels periphery, as shown. At the spaces between every alternate pair of such teeth a transverse cutout m is made in the periphery of the wheel for the accommodation of one of the sprockets or stops I of the cable, while the spaces between the roots of the other pairs of teeth simply present the circumferential surfaces. of the wheel for the accommodation of the cable itself. In other words, as plainly illustrated, the peripheral rope-surface of the wheel has its continuity broken only at the locality of the alternatelyarranged pairs of the teetht' by the depressions or cut-outs m, which run across the entire width of the periphery and extend inwardly or toward the center of the wheel much farther than does the uncut peripheral rope-seat. Each of the stops or sprocket-like devices I is composed in the case shown of two similarly-shaped castings between the adjacent grooved surfaces of which the cable G is clamped, and said castings are securely fastened together and to the cable by two machine bolts and nuts; but these details of construction with reference to the devices I are not material, as other forms of stops may be employed. In the case shown (see Fig. 2) each of the devices I is formed with a vertical flange-like part adapted to be bolted to one end of a bucket K, and a series of said buckets is arranged between the two cables, one bucket being fastened at either end to every pair or oppositely-arranged set of stops I; but a fewer number of such buckets may be used, and the receptacles K maybe (litterent in form from those shown and may be ditferently connected with or attached to the stops or sprocket-like devices of the cables.

In the general operation of the contrivance shown, power being applied to the main drive-shaft G, the requisite motions will be imparted through the system of gearing shown to all the working parts to cause the top set of wheels B Bto drive the two similar endless cables 0 C in the proper direction, and thus through the medium of their buckets K elevate the material to be conveyed in the usual manner; but the drive-wheels B B may of course receive the requisite motion by other means than that shown, and so far as any novel structural features of the wheels B B and the sprocketed cables are concerned these devices may be used together without any buckets attached to the cables and for the purposes only of transmitting power and motion. It will be observed that each of the combined rope and sprocket wheels is made so that between each pair or between every two of the cut-outs or gaps m there is a long unbroken plain peripheral hearing or seat for the cable, and so that the cable runs in contact with an almost unbroken circular bearing or circumferential seat in the periphery of the wheel, the continuity of the circular bearing for the cable being broken only at the vicinity of the narrow transverse gaps m, and it will also be seen that at these points practically the whole extent of cable that is unsupported by the periphery of the wheel is confined within one of the sprocket-like devices I, so that there is substantially no angular bending strain on the cable at any point. The cable runs onto the periphery of the wheel tangentially, thence makes a halfturn on the periphery of the wheel in acurve substantially identical with the circular curve of the periphery of the wheel, (being practically in contact with the periphery of the wheel at every point throughout said halfturn,) and then leaves the face of the wheel tangentially, so that there is the least possible injurious strain and wear on the cable. I consider this structural feature of the improved contrivance shown of great importance, and of course this characteristic feature may be embodied in acontrivance having the wheels made with less teeth and the cables provided with fewer sprocket-like devices than I have shown, the pith of my improvement in this direction resting in the idea of a wheel made without any rope-groove and with the continuity of its peripheral cable-seat broken only at the points at which the gaps m are located and a cable combined therewith which has only the sprocket-like stops to coact with such cut-outsm of the wheel, and this structural feature it will be understood may be used in either an elevator (such as shown) or in a contrivance adapted only to the purposes of transmitting motion and power.

Having now so fully explained my improved machine that any one skilled in the art can make and use my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A combined rope and sprocket wheel having some of the spaces between the pairs or sets of sprockets or teeth gapped or cut out, as specified, and having the rest of such spaces ungrooved circumferentially of the wheel to seat the sprocketed rope which may be run on such wheel, substantially as and for the purposes described.

2. The combination, with a combined rope and sprocket wheel having gaps m between some of the pairs of sprockets and having its periphery ungrooved at all points except immediately at either side of where the said gaps are formed, of a cable arranged to run on the ungrooved periphery of said wheel and provided with sprocket-like devices which engage with said gaps, all substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore set forth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 8th day of March, 1892.

MICHAEL GARLAND.

In presence of- MORRIS L. COURTRIGHT, SAMUEL LANDAU. 

